[Crazy Jetty]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tarquinius

Something I've been noticing more and more about 3 3/4; MU/GI Joe actually seems to be the anomaly.

A lot of the 3 3/4 market is dominated by half articulated or minimally articulated toys. Mattel is at the far end of the spectrum which complete enrages us.

But look at Unimax which does Bravo Team/Ages of Actions/Assasin's Creed/Crysis 2 figures.

They feature DECENT articulation but some of what they lack almost borderlines on common sense. For example they don't have ball jointed hips, and there arm articulation is a little bizaare.

The 4 Horsemen's toys (ironically affiliated with Mattel) specifically the Outer Spacemen feature very very very minimal articulation. I'm still not sure if that was part of the design to capture that old toy feel (as it is mimicking an older toy line).

Even some of Hasbro's own toylines have interesting articulation. Some of the Star Wars lines featured minimal articulation (WHY DOES MY JANGO FETT NOT HAVE KNEES!!!). The Indiana Jones figures again have minimal articulation.

So I think truly...the standard for 3 3/4 is minimal. You have your 90 degree leg (back and forth) joint, elbows, shoulders, head and torso. This is what most 3 3/4 toys tend to subscribe to.

The GI Joe line since its 3 3/4 debut I think has almost featured the most articulation you can find anywhere. I don't know if it changed anything, but it raised the bar higher and it challenged others. Now MU is doing the exact same thing.

Good points, and glad to see someone else take note of this, which always made me wonder why such an extreme reaction towards Mattel, since they're hardly an anomaly.

The advanced articulation you see in Marvel Legends and DCUC (And even Transformers) also stands out from most other figures in their scale. (Heck, from the end of G2, until Marvel Legends launched, Transformers were THE most articulated action figures on the market).
When questioned, I remember McFarlaine Toys (The worst articulated figured on the market) said that articulation is not an issue for them. They believed it was not something toy collectors wanted, and articulation would detract from their sculpts, which they believed is what collectors wanted.

To me, this seems to be the prevailing view amongst higher end toylines. Especially with companies like McFarlaine, and DC Direct. which feature the bare minimum, if any.
Sculpt over articulation, as it appears the designers the designers feel like articulation ruins their sculpts.
And looking at MU, and DCUC, the two lines which fans seem to hold everything else to... the majority of those figures have the absolute barebones when it comes to sculpt. Say what you will about the Green Lantern movie line, almost every figure in that line nocks the typical MU out of the the water when it comes to sculpting.

So it sort of seems to me that from the standpoint of the designers, it's either/or. Very few of them seem to feel that that a happy medium can exist between the two.

Although one explination is killing articulation is one way to kill costs. Less tools have to be machined. Isamot has 9 parts. Kilowog has 11. To give each of them knee and elbow would increase it almost by half. MU and DCUC offsets this by reusing the same scupts add nausium.
But even still. It's a completely different world now, than it was ten years ago. You could get a fully articulated, newly sculpted 6" figure for a reasonable price. Now a minimally sculpted repaint that's been used literally a hundred times before verges on $20.
Which is why Marvel Legends is dead (Dispite Hasbro trying to revive it every so often), and DCUC is on it's last leg. It's not gonna be too long before MU hits the $10 mark, I promise you.
Our hobby as a whole is dying out. As more kids jump off the bandwagon and get into video games earlier and earlier, as well as parents having less and less disposable income, it only makes the costs heavier on us, and raises the prices more as the toy companies have to produce less volume and make more money off a single unit to make it feasable for them.

I honestly think Mattel is doing the best they think they can, while being competatively priced.